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Category Archives: rant

Innauguration

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in rant

Donald Trump will be my President. And he will be your President. And saying otherwise will make you sound no better than the petulant parents who kept their kids home from school so that they wouldn’t be exposed to Obama speaking on a telecast, 7 years ago. He’ll be my President, and I intend to do whatever I can to hold him to all the legal and moral responsibilities of that job.

He’s going to do things I like, and things I dislike. And honestly, I expect much more of the latter. But I don’t think the solution to that is to disengage and be spiteful. I don’t have to like him or his plans, for him to still be the President. That was one of Hillary Clinton’s great downfalls… the constant refrain that she was mean and unlikeable. A leader doesn’t need to be likable. They need to lead.

I don’t know what Trump is going to do, as President. No one does, yet. You can’t take him at his word, on anything he’s promised thus far. For one thing, he knows full well he can spout off anything he wants now, before he’s legally held to a different standard. And he’s taking full advantage of that, for which you can hardly fault him. But for another, he’s backpedaled and reneged on every single major promise and platform issue. So his word is essentially meaningless. And he’s entering office with historically low approval ratings. He’s starting from zero, in more ways than one.

I think in about 15 minutes, his stage act will have to start coming to an end. It may just be morbid fascination, but I’m interested in seeing what happens in the long run. If he lives up to our worst fears, I’ll be there to demand correction and change. If he occasionally pulls a 180 — as he’s done repeatedly in life — and does something good, I’ll be happy and respect him for that.

And if you don’t like what happened with this election, what productive thing are you doing right now to change that?

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

Why Trump?

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in rant

I am mystified by the relative success of Trump’s campaign. I can understand he’d have some amount of support. He’s been a media personality for 30 years. He’ll have developed a fan base in that time. But the idea of seriously voting for him for President, on a mass scale, is bewildering.

He’s a bad Republican.

I understand that a lot of people vote primarily based on political party. But even in those circumstances, he’s a horrible choice. He’s bragged about using every possible legal loophole to make a living, which should anger small government advocates. He’s got a history going back decades, of strongly criticizing both parties, and taking stands that directly contradict the republican platform. He butted heads with the Republican party at every turn in this election. He insinuated if they wouldn’t support him, he’d run as a third party candidate. He denounced Rand Paul and John McCain, arguably the two most powerful, active Republicans in the country. Past Republican administrations are publicly announcing they’ll vote against him.

He’s a bad person.

While running for president, he’s made racist comments, about other countries, and even Miss America. He’s advocated for discrimination based solely on religion. He’s promised to remove civil rights for LGBT people. He can’t seem to stop himself from making sexist comments at every turn. He has shown a blatant disregard for the value of honesty, and instead is willing to say and support anything that will improve his standing.

He doesn’t have the temperament.

All you had to do was watch the debates. He became bitter, hostile, and petulant every time the arguments weren’t going his way. If president, he would have the entire world against him, not one woman. And he has repeatedly made casual, scary, ill-informed comments about the use of nuclear weaponry.

A common refrain among his supporters is that he ‘speaks his mind and doesn’t care what anyone thinks about it’. That is not something to be proud of. That’s the logic of an angry 18 year old. An adult learns there are times you don’t speak. An adult learns there are times where you pick your words to have greater impact. A President is a diplomat, a leader of his party, and the first person the country turns to in major tragedy and triumph. All those things require careful, considered words.

I just read a new bite last night that his staff has locked him out of his own Twitter account, to prevent him from saying something (else) spectacularly stupid. His own staff doesn’t trust him with Twitter… and yet people want to trust him with the world?

He doesn’t associate with good people.

It’s been suggested that he could be a figurehead president. That he would just do as he was told, and collect a paycheck. But the people he has surrounded himself with have horrible records on ethics and (mental) intelligence. Say what you will about Dick Cheney — who people suspect of having run the Bush Jr Executive Branch — but while he was undoubtedly an evil fuck, he was a very intelligent one. But now we have a VP candidate named Mike Pence, who wanted to divert HIV funding to pay for Gay Conversion Therapy, and actually signed a bill that would jail same sex couples just for applying for a marriage license. He was a huge advocate for defunding Planned Parenthood on the basis of their providing abortions — which would deprive millions of women annually with health care services having nothing to do with abortion.

He is unpredictable.

As I mentioned before, he has a long history of being at odds with both major parties; and a history of saying anything to anyone, with no intention of standing by his word. (How well would that untrustworthiness go over in international affairs?) Once in office, why would you think he would do the bidding of either liberals or conservatives? And that’s assuming he can stay in office. With his shoot-from-the-cuff style and do-it-now-and-deny-it-later style, just how long before he’d be impeached?

He’s not just as bad as Clinton

The false equivalence between Clinton and Trump also amazes me. “He may be awful, but she’s horrible and untrustworthy!” Clinton isn’t who I want in office either, but in no sane world are these two people comparable. If Clinton was the monster she’s been painted as, this campaign, then — without resorting to conspiracy theories — why in 20 years of federal investigations, has she never been found guilty? She’s no saint… I believe she’s as corrupt as any major politician. This is a race for the presidency of the United States…. do you think anyone gets to that level without having some serious skeletons in their closet? I think Clinton would be just as bad and just as good as any other run-of-the-mill President. Her only defining character in the last 16 years has been that she wants to be president. Not to do good, or make a change, or anything else… just “to be president”. I think she would go down in history as “First Female President of the US”, and not much of anything else. But when you compare that to the unholy clusterfuck that a Trump presidency is likely to produce…? I will vote every time for ‘useless’ over ‘chaotic, uninformed hot-head’.

Make America Great Again

“Make America Great Again” is an utterly meaningless slogan. It’s pandering to people who feel afraid and alone. It promises people that they can live in a Norman Rockwell / Disneyland version of history. But I can’t think of any decade in the last 110 years that didn’t have major upheavals and problems. Trump’s campaign is based around a meaningless slogan that promises something that never existed. Okay… maybe it is fitting for his campaign.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

Why do I still blog after 18 years?

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in quotes, rant

My blog’s older than Twitter and Facebook, and it will outlive them. It has seen Flickr explode and then fade. It’s seen Google Wave and Google Reader come and go, and it’ll still be here as Google Plus fades. When Medium and Tumblr are gone, my blog will be here.

– Brent Simmons

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

Inspirational Television

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in intangibles, rant

Small observation, regarding television shows: I like Aaron Sorkin shows. Yes he’s an incredible writer. Yes, while he has a definite liberal bent, he has no trouble calling out stupidity wherever he sees it.

But… but… it occurs to me tonight–while I have Studio 60 on in the background while I work–that he writes stories about people getting up and doing things that are important to them. The characters are driven by something, so they go out and do something about it. So many shows are about poor, put-upon characters. People who are beaten down, discouraged, unhappy, or bad. But Sorkin writes stories about people doing something important to them.

I don’t feel better about myself just because I’m not as pathetic as whoever on whatever reality show is popular this week. I like a little real inspiration in my entertainment.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

Mother.

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in rant

Dear lady with the cute baby in the stroller,

You may not know this, but muttering snarky comments under your breath as you walk away isn’t the best way to convey information.

If I caught your words correctly, I should point out that given how I was walking down a narrow aisle, towards an outward swinging door, which you were already in the process of opening, physics dictates that the only way I could have conceivably helped you instead of “standing there like a lazy fuck” would have been to either open the door into your face or expect you to back up and move out of my way while I exited, finally putting me in the only position where I could have actually held the door open.

But I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that you didn’t actually look at the situation. You instead just felt entitled to help from anyone and everyone around you. And you know what they say about feeling entitled. It makes an ass out of you.

Sincerely,

Me.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

Buy a house.

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in rant

The perfect antidote to the desire to buy a house is the process of buying a house.

My process so far certainly hasn’t been standard, but even the best of sales seem to take their toll. You spend a large amount of time looking through listings and going on tours, trying to find something that is desirable, affordable, accessible, and usable. And, well, just has that *something* that makes you want to commit to such an insane undertaking. Then you put in an offer for an ungodly amount of money. And more often than not, you get rejected. I was told the average buyer has to make offers on at least 3 places. Say you find the house, and make a deal. The first thing you then have to do is get it inspected. This is the point where someone comes in and starts poking holes in all your dreams. Water problems, structural problems, pest problems, electric problems. If you aren’t put off by that, you start putting together the financing. This isn’t the cute little norman rockwell image of the local banker sitting with you in their office helping the young couple buy their starter home. This is a faceless person asking you for multiple years worth of finances, including full details on several months worth of deposits. (For that one little thing alone, I’ve had to produce over 200 documents). On the lender’s side, it’s multiple steps… any one of which could cause a problem. But if you make it this far, you really don’t want to give up. So you work your way through and agree on a date to exchange signatures. But first… lets clear the title, which is where we verify they owner actually even has a right to sell you the property. (Why this doesn’t occur earlier, I don’t know. Probably to be sure no ownership changes pop up at the last minute.) So… you’ve made it to closing day. Can’t go wrong now, can it? All you gotta do now is sign your name 40 or 50 times. But… first you inspect the house. You gotta verify that it’s in the same condition as you contracted for. Any change that wasn’t agreed to in writing ahead of time, becomes grounds for an argument with the seller, and could lead to either party walking away. (Probably not… but it depends on the scale of the modification).

And all of that assumes the people you’re working with are competent and well meaning. I’m not going to speak about my experiences, here. But it is a business transaction… you really can’t rely on people’s good will.

You survive all that. You sign the papers. You own a house. Tired yet? I hope not. As one of my clients recently said, owning a house is a lifestyle. Clean, repair, paint, maintain, grow, secure, finance,…

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

Gentrification

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in news, rant

I like this article on gentrification in DC. (“Gentrification in D.C.: How will we remember those displaced?” in the Washington Post). While ‘gentrification’ is a loaded word, the article is one of the more balanced I’ve read on the topic. It doesn’t instantly assume that the new people moving into these neighborhoods are bad. (Though almost as bad — it does assume that all new residents will be interested in “improving” the neighborhoods.) It instead just asks that people learn about their new surroundings, and try to find a way to coexist that benefits everyone. That’s kind of — you know — the definition of civilization. Otherwise, we’re just in a predator/prey situation. (Which isn’t to say it doesn’t happen that way quite often. Just that I agree with the author’s request.)

As someone currently trying to buy a house in a ‘transitional’ neighborhood, I’m very aware of all these tensions. I’ve actually lived much of my life in such places; more often being in the minority dispute being a white male. But I don’t choose a place solely on what it might become. I’m sitting on the porch of the hopefully-new house right now, watching kids playing together. Watching people talk with their neighbors. Listening to the wind in the trees, and the sound of the nearby city. I love all this, and certainly wouldn’t want to lose it. Starbucks and a hipster bar would certainly be no decent replacement.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

bad light

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in photo, rant

You want a horribly colored photo? Stick me in a room with incandescent lighting, and beige walls, and beige furniture. No matter how much I mess with the white balance, I can never quite get it right, under those conditions.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

Photoshopped

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in photo, rant

Just had another photo chosen as Photo of the Day on DCist. And immediately — and not for the first time — received some comments about photoshopping.
I adjust things like the lightness and darkness and sharpness. In that sense, yes it’s photoshopped. But these are the same things photographers have been doing in the darkroom since the beginning. (Ansel Adams was probably better known for his darkroom work than his picture taking). But I don’t add or subtract actual items in the photo.
Occasionally I play around with things like cross-processing and vignettes and such, for artistic effect. But I never promised you an unadulterated photo. I promised you an interesting photo. Photographer Clayton Cubitt had a quote something to the effect that “When he photographs something, he kills it. He has to adjust the image to give it back the life as he originally saw it.”

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

Shopping

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in rant, toys

I am impressed. I placed an order with Amazon yesterday. Well … one of the retailers who sells through Amazon. Because if this was Amazon, I would not be impressed. If this was Amazon, they would tell me “Your order has shipped”, and for the next 3 days, UPS would tell me “it’s sitting on the docks at Amazon”. But no… this company had it into UPS last night, and across the country by this morning. Not here yet, but a damn good start.
And I like the ‘new’ look of the tracking page on UPS. The page groups information by the order people typically want it. Colorcoding to show the status of your order. The number of days left before delivery, in big bold type at the top. I even like the progress bar.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

Rules for dating (especially for “nice guys”)

2 Replies | Posted by Patrick Calder on in rant, self-improvement, sex

In no particular order, and open to frequent revision:

Rule 1: Forget everything you’ve learned. Forget whatever you saw on every TV show, movie, fairy tale, or webcast. Most of them are ridiculous, stilted, or simplistic. Real emotions and hormones are unreliable, gritty, and erratic. To think a cleaned up hollywood remake of a 1,000 year old fairytale is going to say anything useful to you today is foolish.

Rule 2: Say every stupid thing that comes into your head. When I was much younger, I had a wonderful night talking with a very cute girl. I felt like I was being smooth and charming and everything good. Then I leaned against a folding chair and flipped over the back of it. I laughed at myself and figured I’d had a good run… at least I tried. The girl left shortly thereafter, but 3 minutes later, her sister came back and gave me the girl’s phone number. Sometimes, it pays to be ridiculous. Better that you make an impact – no matter how ridiculous it might require you to be; than you being polite and kind and proper and not having them remember your name.

Rule 3: Don’t be self deprecating. I used to do this, as a means of getting a laugh and relieving any tension. But … you don’t want to relieve the tension. Tension is not always bad. Besides… no one has ever been impressed with someone who always puts themselves down. You don’t have to be a conceited dick, but if you don’t act like you’re worth something, why should anyone else believe it?

Rule 4: The Andrew Rule – Andrew’s rules number 1 through 5 are all the same: “You put the penis in the girl”. You meet an attractive woman, you’ll want to have sex with her. If she’s still talking to you despite the fact you’ve been trying not to stare at her boobs for the last 10 minutes, she probably finds you attractive and enjoys sex too. Hey… you have something in common! Why don’t you do something about that?

Rule 5: The Mairin Rule – “Don’t think too much”. Don’t try and guess why the other person is behaving a certain way. You’re probably not going to be even close, and certainly not going to have a complete picture. And all it will do is make you paranoid in the meantime. Be happy with what you learn outright, and if you need to know why they’re acting a certain way…? Ask.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

Don’t be a dick

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in rant

Don’t be a dick, when you get drunk.

I can live with drunk people getting loud. And they can even get reasonably obnoxious when they’re drunk. (I have one friend who gets very adamant about everything when drunk). But don’t be a dick.

Don’t be the guys who dragged me from my group of friends so they could take a picture with me in my (non-existant) costume, this weekend. Don’t be the guy who ripped the pole out of the fence at 2 in the morning, (Because I promise you, I will pre-emptively kick your ass as fast as possible if you take even a step towards me after that). Don’t be the townie who crashed the con to “find a party dude” and write graffiti on every wall you passed.

Get drunk. Say stupid things. Trip and fall. Have sex with inappropriate people. But don’t be a dick.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

hate.

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in rant

Occasionally it feels really good to have money to throw at a problem.
Coming home on the subway, 3 car-hopping poster-children-for-abortion threatened to set me on fire with a lighter. They followed me off the train and out of the gates. Reported it to the booth worker, who called in the amazingly-slow-arriving Metro Police. Filed a report.
By this time it’s dark outside, and 6 blocks to my apartment. And I had watched them all leave through that exit. I was thinking “if they had half a brain, they would have taken off when they saw me talking to the booth worker.” but then I think “if they had half a brain, they wouldn’t be doing this in the first place”. Poo.
So I took the shortest taxi ride in recent history. Home. 50% tip.
I hate this city right now.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

Nice Guys

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in intangibles, life worth living, rant, self-improvement, sex

Being a “nice guy” is like being an alcoholic, in that you’re never really cured. There’s always that little bit of something in the back of your mind, waiting to jump out and take over your life again. So I speak from personal experience, but hopefully at a distance. It certainly feels like a drastic change occurred in my life within the last few years. And there’s plenty of evidence to support that. But I’ve been feeling like maybe I’m in a unique place, able to see the issue from both sides.

For the sake of less arguments, let’s define what a “nice guy” is. You’ve met them. You know them. You’ve listened to them talk, and talk, and talk. If you’re a woman, you think they’re your sweet, vaguely clueless friend. If you’re a man, you’re friends with them; but you find yourself shaking your head a lot at what they do. And if you are them, you have a justification for everything I’m going to say, anyway.

The “nice guy” label doesn’t come from a good place. Although these men probably are pleasant overall, the name has nothing to do with desirable personality traits. It comes from what is a common refrain, when discussing male/female interaction with these men. “Women don’t want nice guys. They want assholes.” Or “I’m a nice guy, so women never want me.” You know you’ve heard this dozens, if not hundreds of times. Most likely among guys talking to guys. If it’s a guy talking to a woman, I promise you he has a crush on you, but doesn’t think he has any real chance; but maybe if they can just convince you…

Those discussions always proceed with great amounts of logic and reasoning. Always with the logic. Like many things in my life, I always felt safe retreating to logic. “Well… if you look at it in this common sense way… A + B = C, then I’m right, even if it didn’t work out.” And while I was almost certainly correct, it was completely beside the point. I was trying to use logic as a defense in human relationships, which are at their core, completely illogical.

The nice guy will eventually tell you where he has firmly positioned himself in the whole scheme of relationships. “I don’t even try anymore.” “I don’t need to be in a relationship to be happy.” “She wasn’t what I was looking for, anyway.” “I just can’t meet women, because of X”.

And the nice guy is going to do this…. over, and over, and over and over… the nice guy telling you about their dating life at 25 will sound pretty much the same at 30, and 35, and…

Why are we like this? I would guess a little bit of conditioning, and — if current science is to be believed — a little bit of biology. Second point first, ‘nice guys’ are almost always geeks to some extent. While they may not wear a pocket protector, the personality quirks are still there. Often with a strong leaning toward Asperger’s-type traits.

But the conditioning part is what interests me most about all this. “Why did I think about men, women, and relationships in this way?” In general, everyone you’ve met shares the same large cultural reference pool. So it’s probably not a question of strictly ‘what’ you’re exposed to. I had the same interests as anyone else. And to some extent, they even matured as I got older. But especially when you’re talking about the sexes and how they interact, there was always a certain amount of unflattering naiveté. Like I was looking at the world through a Norman Rockwell painting, or Disney colored glasses. Women are great, but you put them on a relatively chaste pedestal. Dating always leads to something more involved when it goes well. Sex is great, but it’s walled off in it’s own little world. I would like to say it’s a sort of junior-high point of view of the adult world. But I’d guess junior high kids today are less clueless than I was.

Many years ago, when I first started questioning the “Women don’t like nice guys” mantra, I said that maybe it’s not ‘assholes’ they want so much as confident men. Confidence is absolutely an attractive trait. Real or faked, it gets me better results in both business and personal life, regardless of whether I actually know what I’m doing. But… like everything else… I don’t know if this is really so clear cut. Confidence is a symptom of a personality that is outgoing, that takes initiative. You’re not sitting back examining life, but you’re actually participating in it. You’re engaged, good or bad.

Those kinds of traits absolutely run contrary to the mental process of a nice guy. These men don’t want to exert themselves on someone. “I’ll just tell this person I’m interested in about myself, and if they’re likewise interested, they’ll let me know, and we’ll…” …whatever. It sounds so mature, and logical. But relationships don’t start out like you’re drafting some mutually beneficial contract. Looking back, every person I consider important — every relationship, male or female, that means something to me — initially flared up in my life like a struck match.

What about sex? For nice guys, it’s this great thing that will come about after you’ve established a relationship with someone. While you’re by no means celibate or ashamed of sex, it’s not part of this early connection with someone. It’s a secondary, or tertiary stage. This one is harder to discuss intelligently. If relationships — as I said earlier — are completely illogical, sex is completely insane. Sex is hormones coursing through the blood telling you to do ridiculous things that probably even violate the laws of physics. What on earth made nice guys think this blood/sweat/magic thing can be left out of the discussion? A romantic relationship doesn’t lead to sex. Sex is part of a romantic relationship. Leave it out, even initially, and you’re leaving out a vital ingredient. The unspoken promise of sex, the looks, the hand on the other person, the holding, the actions themselves. Some female friends recently stated that while yes they wanted nice men, (presumably with a looser definition than mine), they wanted nice men who would put them over the arm of the couch and fuck them. The idea that women want to have sex isn’t shocking. But the sheer directness and central nature — that struck out at my dormant “nice guy”. Every woman I’ve asked about this has agreed with the main point, without question. Even better? The women who made the initial comment are the geekiest, most intelligent, uber-nerdy, (honestly… Asperger-ish) women I know. Apparently there are no “nice women”.

How do I think of life and relationships now?

Life is chaos. Try to simplify it and make it manageable and understandable, and you’re actually stripping out the things that make it worth living. If you dive into the chaos and let things swirl around you, it’s fascinating what you will see and experience. A hour of unexpected, new, exciting things is worth many times even the most enjoyable pre-planned day.

Relationships are similar. Don’t go in with a plan. Just go in. Interact in every way that comes up. Say every stupid thing that comes into your head. Forget everything you’ve ever seen or read, because every human relationship is unique. If there’s a connection, seize it immediately. And if not, that person still fits in your life somewhere.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

bad does not equal evil

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in rant

It’s important to remember, when you’re latching on and criticizing the man for the latest unpopular or controversial thing done by the Obama administration, that every president does bad things. No one can lead and be perpetually good and popular. We weren’t ashamed of Bush for doing bad things. We hated him for lying, deceiving, manipulating, obfuscating, and depriving. If the most awful thing we can say some day is that Obama made a decision we don’t agree with, then he’ll still go down on his worst day as a better leader and a better man than Bush ever was.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

no i.d. for you

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in rant

must kill someone.
jesus.
I have always thought it incredibly stupid how every building wants you to sign in unless you work or live there. There’s absolutely no security value to it.* Even if I didn’t go to the mental effort of giving a fake name, it’s not going to stop me from doing ‘bad things’.
But this one building has decided I also have to show them my ID to get in. Not just a business card, or anything. Has to be an ID. Well yes, that shows I went to some effort to prove an identity, (though not necc. my real one). But it doesn’t actually make the building any more secure. Still not gonna stop me from doing ‘bad things’. Still not gonna make it easier to find me afterwards, if I have half a brain.
But it is an invasion of my privacy. I don’t want another record out there of every place I visited on a given day.
The smarter buildings just ask you who you’re going to see, which is perfectly reasonable. Still not secure… but it roughly lets them know who to talk to if something goes bad.
The white house, last time I went, didn’t want to see my ID at all. And it’s supposedly a pretty secure building.
So I left. Got home and sent a message to the printer in the building telling them that so long as that was their landlord’s policy, that they would have to come to me if they wanted my business.
Yes it’s generally a stupid little thing. But I put up with more than enough of those… I don’t need to put up with the ones that mean something to me.
*okay… yes. if you’re dealing with morons, this might be of some benefit. When we had a prostitute working upstairs, it was amazing to watch the guys come in and be completely unable to maintain the simplest story about where they’re going and what for.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

politics

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in rant

obligatory: yes, i voted. Spent an hour in line at my polling place. Which wasn’t too bad, compared to the last 2 major elections.
I kind of want to write before I hear any of the official results. As it is, it seems very likely that Obama will win, barring some hijinks/lawsuits/evil after the election is over. It all has a very epic feel to it. The last few days, even jaded people have been talking to me about this being a great moment in history. Obama is inspiring people in a way we haven’t seen in 40 years. (So much for all those people who told me his inspirational nature wouldn’t matter).
I don’t know what kind of president he will likely be. I have my concerns. But fuckit… given this job, I would have my concerns about anyone. This is one of those positions where no one is completely qualified. And it’s also not a job done alone. It will be interesting to see cabinet choices and such.
And political correctness aside, I will take a certain pride in seeing a black man stand up there representing our country. We talk a lot of high ideal shit in this world, only to have it be rendered meaningless by a bunch of rich, old, white men. Seeing the quintessential American success story stand up and represent us will be a nice change.
I don’t have a particular hate for McCain, although I get the feeling he was led down the wrong path in this election. He abandoned everything that made him McCain, and started blatantly appealing to the most extreme, unbalanced parts of his own party. The nomination of Palin is just downright insulting. I swore to myself 3 years ago that the massive trauma the republican party was going through was intentionally self inflicted. It looked to me like they were killing off the weakest sitting members of their party, in hopes of bringing in fresh blood to those positions. But if that’s at all true, their timeline is much longer than I expected.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

not just you

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in rant

So there were two thoughts bugging me on the metro tonight. One new, and one very old. Here’s the first, and we’ll see about the second if I still have the energy later.
More than a few times recently, I’ve been thinking of things I want to write. They’ve concerned things involving people I know. They always involved multiple people. But based on past reactions, I’ve felt like, each time, that I would need to add a disclaimer, that when I mention “several people did or said so-and-so”, that I would have to reinforce that point. That I would have to say: If you think I’m talking about you, I probably am. But I’m not talking only about you.
Well… fuck that. It’s stupid to have to have to try to convince people of something I said clearly the first time. And it tends to lead me to not even bother writing.
When I say it, I mean it. If I get crap in the future, I’ll very likely simply point you to this post, and then drop it. If you choose to sulk and not tell me that you feel personally insulted, well… not really my problem then, until you do come to me about it.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

Down with Xenu

3 Replies | Posted by Patrick Calder on in news, photo, rant

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Stupid little buggers.
I went to take pictures at the Anonymous protest, yesterday. Anonymous — if you’re unaware — is a protest movement against the Church of Scientology. The movement’s organizers cloak themselves in anonymity to “protect” themselves from the Scientologist’s well-documented harassment of any critics. So the protests are generally a lot of people in masks (see: Anonymous) waving signs outside any branch or office of this “Church”.
The general things that the protesters are upset about include Scientology’s secrecy, their financial focus, questionable physical and mental health practices, their tax-exempt status as a church, and their harassment of former members any just about anyone trying to find out any details about them.
But I had a vaguely bad feeling when I was reading a bit on the local Anonymous chapter’s website, here in DC, on Friday night. They were specifically telling their ‘members’ to be doubtful about anyone who showed up that wasn’t part of the protest. Anyone who stopped nearby, or anyone who asked questions, or talked to them in any way, was supposed to be viewed with distrust, since they could be a scientologist “mole”. And sure enough, within about two minutes of arriving, and taking pictures from a nearby meridian in the street, (right next to the traffic cop assigned to keep order), I had people looking at me suspiciously. There were plenty of people pointing at me, soon enough. And lots of pictures and video footage including me, eventually. A few of the braver souls eventually yelled across the street that I should have been more subtle… I was too obvious a plant.
A plant for what? I wasn’t talking to them. I wasn’t getting in their way. I wasn’t trying to disseminate my own message. Assume the worst… that I was L Ron Hubbard reincarnate… then what harm was I still causing to them? Are protesters there to be seen or not? Is there any value to being rude to people asking questions, as I watched them do to a couple others, just because they aren’t part of your protest? Isn’t that why you’re there? You will never convince someone who’s already hard-line for a cause. You’re whole purpose in protest is to convince the people in the middle, who aren’t firmly decided. To ignore them, or even chase them off, is just shooting yourself in the foot.
But… also not particularly shocking. The majority of the protesters were — by appearance — black block-ers. The people who go to ANY protest, in all black, wearing masks and imagining themselves to be the hard-core true-believers. My biggest problem with the black block, besides the fact that most of them are just obnoxious little pricks who protest because that’s what “you’re supposed to do”, is that they always do it with their face covered. Attending a public protest with your face covered is meaningless. You protest because you want to stand up and say that no matter what the risk, I personally support this cause. To do so in a mask removes any personal commitment, making you a useless twat.
And of all the things to be pissed about — to choose scientology says just as much about you as it does about them. They absolutely have some questionable practices. And I have a real problem with anyone who isn’t open to questions. But in just about every major religion you’ll find all the same basic issues as you do in Scientology. They all expect money… (tithing would have you give 10% of your income to the church). Mormons are just as secretive about their buildings and papers. Jehova’s Witnesses have difficult and questionable restrictions on medical practices. I don’t believe the scale at which the Scientologists do these same practices warrants this special attention. And on the chart of fucked-up institutions and practices that humanity inflicts upon itself, they don’t even make the Top 100.
In the end, I don’t care what they yelled at me. And if they want to film me, it just adds on to all the tourists’ shots I probably already show up in ever summer. And attacking me just for taking pictures of people acting strangely on the streets of one of the main tourist locations in the country makes them no different than the cop who stopped me a week after September 11, 2001 for taking a picture of an empty street. I’m sure the black block will love that comparison.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!